Russia: Graft Has Cost Russia’s Defense Ministry 7 Billion Rubles

Corruption has cost the Defense Ministry more than 7 billion rubles ($135 million), Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said in a report prepared for the Federation Council, Interfax reported Tuesday.

“Military prosecutors have identified 1,896 corruption-related crimes. These include misappropriations, embezzlements, frauds and forgeries. The accumulated damage has surpassed 7 billion rubles,” according to Chaika’s report, entitled “On the State of Lawfulness in the Country.”

Hundreds of people have been charged in connection with these crimes, including 257 officers, 154 of them senior ones, the report said.